Baffle for boiler furnaces



do 8, E935 W. s. BOUTON 9 BAFFLE FOR BOILER FURNACES Fi led Feb. 17,1953 Patented Oct. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES Arm A OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to boiler furnaces, and particularly to domesticboilers, of hot water or steam types, for heating dwelling houses andother buildings. More particularly the invention relates to means forcontrolling the flow of the combustion gases of such boilers from thefirebox to the chimney, whereby greater economy in the use of fuel and amore highly efficient heating action are obtained.

In an ordinary domestic boiler designed for the burning of low volatilefuels under natural draft, the gases of combustion have an elective pathand flow more or less uniformly through the flues or ports at both frontand rear of the vertical transverse center of the furnace, and thehollow sections of the boiler having the ports through which the heatingwater flows are, therefore, subjected to the action of their dueproportions of heat to secure the desired heating effect.

A change of circulation, however, occurs in the use'of an oil boiler andits increased or forced draft, orin the use of blowers on a coal firedfurnace, as in such cases the flues which are 25. located at the rear orchimney half of the furnace afford the easiest path for the gases fromthe firebox to the chimney and such flues are crowded to their maximumcapacity with the gases which flow at high speed, with the result. that30. only a portion of the gases come in contact with the heatingsurfaces in their path of travel and discharge without their heat beingutilized, while those flues located farther away from the chimney orfrom the center to the front of the boiler 35v are deprived of theirproper proportion of the gases for such reasons and the heating effectin this portion of the boiler is reduced to amaterial extent below whatit should be.

One object of my invention is to provide means 40.: for overcoming thisobjection by ohecking'and properly controlling the flow of the gasesthrough the flues to the chimney so as to prevent the unduly rapidtravel of the gases and spread the gases in a manner to uniformlydistribute the 45 heat to the water chambers, thereby obviating forceddraft or the use of a blower as employed with buckwheat coal or thelike.

The invention consists of the features of construction, combination andarrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, 5reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:-

Fig. l is a central vertical front-to-rear section through a domesticheating boiler to which my invention is shown applied. 10

Figs. 2 and 3 are horizontal sections taken respectively on the lines 22and 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4i of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the deflector.

Fig. 6 is a section similar to Fig. 2 showing the 15 use of a secondbafile plate or deflector.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, l designates a domesticheating boiler of ordinary type used either for furnishing hot water orsteam for heating a dwelling house or 20 other building, said boilercomprising a casing having a firebox 2, a smoke box or chamber 3, andtwo or more superposed hollow sections or heating chambers in which thewater or medium to be heated circulates, two such chambers 4 and. 5being shown in the present instance, although it is to be understoodthat the number of water chambers used may vary according to theintended capacity of the boiler. The lower chamher 4 forms the top wallof the firebox and is provided, in accordance with a common practice,with a single central flue or port 6 for the upflow of gases ofcombustion from the firebox. The upper chamber 5 is spaced in part fromthe chamher t to provide an intermediate combustion 3'6; chamber 1, andsaid chamber 5 is provided, as usual, with an annular series of flues orports comprising front and rear flues Band 9 arranged in alinement witheach other in the center line of the furnace from front to rear, andside flues or ports iii and H arranged in alinement with each other inthe ceneral transverse line of the furnace. These flues 8, 9, It] and IIconnect the combustion chamber 1 with the smoke box or chamber 3, andthe flue 9 communicates with 4E5 the chamber 1 adjacent to an outletflue 12 connecting the chamber 1 with a smoke pipe l3 leading to thechimney or smoke stack.

.In carrying my invention into practice, I provide a deflector I l,constructed of sheet metal or othersuitable material, and whichcomprises a bottom bracket or attaching part A and an upper deflectorpart B. The deflector l 4 is adapted to be disposed for cooperation withone of the aforesaid flues, as the flue 9, when a-single 6B deflector isemployed, and to be supported in position within the furnace below saidflue. As shown, the deflector part B comprises a base plate [5 carryingan upwardly extending, vertically disposed bafile plate I6. The bottombracket or attaching part A is arranged in alinement with the plate I5and comprises a clamping member or plate l1, hinged at its upper edge tothe lower edge of plate l5 or plate I6 and provided at its lower edgewith a clamping member or flange l8 provided with suitable fasteningmeans, such as a set screw l8. The plate I6 is of truncate triangularform and carries upon its outer or front face a pair of deflector platesI9 and 28 respectively. The deflector plate [9 extends from a point nearthe lower edge of the plate it upwardly to a point about in line withthe horizontal center of said plate [6, and intersects at its upper edgethe plate 28, which extends from said upper edge of the plate l9 towardthe plate it and engages the outer or front face of the latter at apoint below its upper edge. The plate It is inclined in an upward andoutward direction from its lower edge toward its front edge, while theplate 20 is inclined in an inward and upward direction, or toward theplate It, from its outer or lower edge to its inner or rear edge.

The deflector IQ, constructed as thus described, is placed in positionin the furnace so as to directly control the flow of the products ofcombustion or combustion gases from the flue 6 and chamber 7 to theupper flue 9. When placed in position for cooperation with the flue 9,the base plate 15 is disposed to rest upon the upper surface of thechamber wall Q with the clamping plate or member I! disposed in the flue6, and said clamping plate or member I1 is then swung rearwardly on itshinge connection to bring its flange l8 beneath the wall 4 at the baseof the flue 6 and the set screw 3' is then tightened against the wall 4to fasten the device rigidly in positionf When the deflector, is soapplied its baffle plate 56, which is properly proportioned for thepurpose, will extend upwardly through the chamber 1 into the lowerportion of the flue 9 adjacent to and in slightly spaced relation to thefront wall portion 2| of said flue and with the deflector plates l9 and25! extending forwardly into the chamber 1 and overhanging the rearportion of the flue 6. With this arrangement, the deflector plate IEwill incline upwardly and forwardly, so as to direct a portion of thegases from the flue forwardly in the chamber 1 toward the flues 8, Hiand H, while the deflector plate 20 will lie beneath the wall portion 2iat such an upward and rearward angle of inclination from the deflectorl9 as to form a flaring passage between the chamber 7 and the space 22betwwn the plate It and wall portion 2 I. Communication between thechamber 1 and the flue 9 will, accordingly, be restricted to the extentof the reduced flue space or passage 22 between the parts It and 2|, tolimit the amount of gases which may flow upwardly through the flue 9 inany given period of time, while the bafile plates l9 and 20 will lie inthe path of flow of the gases of combustion between the flue 6 and flue9 and check such gases in their flow toward the chimney, therebyreducing the velocity of flow of the gases from the combustion chamberto the smoke box and thence to the chimney through any of the flues 8,9, l and II. By this means the gases which, under a forced or increaseddraft, as in the use of an oil burner or blower, take the shortestcourse of travel because of their velocity mainly through the flue 9,are, by the checking action set up, caused to spread throughout theentire area of the-chamber I and to flow upward with more or lessuniformity, with regard to volume, through all of the passages 8, 9, litand I l into the smoke box or chamber 3 before discharging through theflue l2 into the smoke pipe l3. As a result, those ports or portions ofports, such as the ports 8, 10 I0 and H, which are located in advance ofthe vertical transverse center of the furnace, and which would otherwisebe deprived of the flow of their due proportion of the products ofcombustion through them, are supplied with a proper portion of thecombustion gases so that all portions of the heating surfaces will beproperly heated.

It will thus be seen that by the use of my deflector device, the directpassage of the gases of combustion from the firebox to the flue 12through the flue 9, or the flue 9 and rear portions of the flues i8 andil, is hindered and the gases deflected sumciently to increase theamount of the products of combustion which pass through the 5 flues 8,l0 and II or the flue 8 and forward portions of the flues i0 and H,while permitting a reasonable amount of the gases to pass through theport 9 and portions of the ports ID and II in rear of the transversecenter of the furnace, so that the heat of the gases of combustion willbe transmitted with substantial uniformity to all portions of theheating surface of the boiler, without in any manner unduly choking orbaffling any of the flues. The effect of the use of the deflector is,therefore, such that it prevents the too rapid discharge of the gases,and the heating of those portions of the heating surface of the boilerlying between the vertical transverse center of the boiler and theoutlet flue l2 to the exclusion of those portions of the heating surfaceof the boiler lying in advance of the Vertical transverse centerthereof, so that the flue temperatures may be regulated, waste of fuelprevented and economy in the use of fuel secured, while highly efficientheating of the water or heating medium in a boiler is obtained whichwould otherwise be insufficiently heated. As a result of this action,also, the gases are spread out over the full area of the chamber 1, andthey travel through the ports or flues 8, 9, II and l i so that theflues and the water in contact therewith will be more uniformly heatedand undue heating, with a tendency to the burning out of any one of theflues, will be effectually prevented. Furthermore, by means of myinvention, the operating of a furnace designed to burn low volatilefuels under natural draft may be changed to accord with the change ofoperating conditions resulting in the use of an oil burner or blowerwithout reducing the area of a plurality of ports, so that theadjustment of the fire may be independent of the changed design of thefurnace. It is conceivable, of course, that similar results, so far asthe heating effect is concerned, can be obtained, where the flre isconstant, by either 5 baffling or in some other manner reducing the areaof the ports next to the chimney, so that the proper amount of gaseswould be forced through the ports in advance thereof, but such bafiiingaction would be diflicult and would have to be adjusted to the volume ofthe flre which it is proposed to maintain in the furnace. My inventionalso provides a simple, reliable and efficient and inexpensive type ofdeflector which can be readily applied to any type of furnace burninglowvola- 75.

tile fuels under natural draft, without changing the constructionthereof, to permit of the use of an oil burner or blower, and to meetthe changed operating conditions and govern the flow of the combustiongases to uniformly heat the furnace.

In the use of a single deflector, as stated, such deflector ispreferably applied for use in cooperation with the rear central flue 9,as shown. It is, however, to be understood that additional deflectorsmay, if desired, be employed for use in conjunction with either one orboth of the flues l and II. Fig. 4 shows, for example, an arrangement inwhich a modified form of deflector i4 is arranged for cooperation withthe flue ID to retard the upflow of gases through said flue. Such adeflector l4 may be used in conjunction with the flue ll instead of theflue H1, or, if desired, a deflector I4 may be used in conjunction witheach flue l0 and II, according to circumstances and to the number ofdeflectors required -to give best results with any particular make andsize of furnace. This modified form of deflector may correspond inconstruction with the deflector I4 except for the omission therefrom ofthe deflector plates l9 and 20.

It is to be understood that the arrangement or" V the deflector M in theflue 9 may be varied from that shown so that the space 22 may or may notbe provided, as desired, that is to say, the baffle plate may be placedin contact with wall 2! instead of being spaced therefrom, withoutmaterially affecting the efliciency of operation of the boiler. This isdue to the fact that by reason of the width and shape of the plate I6,the gases may pass around the sides of the plate to the flue 9 insteadof through a space between the plate and the wall 2|. The plate I6,however, in either case will prevent the gases from having a direct pathto the flue, to secure the desired distribution of the gases to theseveral flues, without unduly choking or baffling the flue.

The efliciency of my invention in transmitting a greater portion of theheat units from the products of combustion to the heating fluid isindicated in practice not only throughout the heating system in whichthe furnace is arranged by its greater heating capacity, but by the factthat the temperature of the gases discharged into the chimney is greatlyreduced, showing that a greater proportion of the heatis transmitted tothe heating fluid.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawing,the construction, mode of operation and advantages of my invention willbe readily understood by those versed in the art without a further andextended description. While the structure shown is preferred, it will,of course, be understood that changes in the form, proportion anddetails of construction of the device may be made within the scope ofthe appended claims, without departing from the spirit or sacrificingany of the advantages of the invention. 5

What I claim is:--

1. A baflie device of the character described comprising a base, holdingmeans carried thereby, a baflie plate extending upwardly from the base,and lower and upper deflector plates on one side of the bafile plate,and terminating below the top thereof, the lower deflector plate beinginclined from the lower portion of the baflle plate upwardly and in thedirectionaway from said side of the baflie plateand the upper deflectorplate being inclined from the upper edge of the lower deflector plateupwardly and in the direction toward said side of the baffle plate.

2. A bafiie device or" the character described comprising a verticallydisposed baiile plate, supporting means located at the lower edge ofsaid plate, and deflecting means at one side of said plate embodying alower deflecting member extending from the lower edge of said plateobliquely upwardly and in a direction away from such side of the plateand an upper deflecting member extending from the upper edge of thelower deflecting member obliquely upwardly and in a direction towardsuch side of the plate.

3. A baffle device for boiler furnaces comprising a vertically disposedbaffle plate, a laterally extending support at the lower end of theplate, fastening means at the lower end of the plate for coaction withsaid support to secure the device in working position to a part of thefurnace, and deflecting means at one side of said plate embodying alower deflecting member extending from the lower edge of said plateobliquely upwardly and in a direction away from such side of the plateand an upper deflecting member extending from the upper edge of saidlower deflecting member obliquely upwardly and in a direction towardsuch side of the plate.

4. A baiile device of the character described comprising a base, avertically disposed bafile plate supported by the base, a deflectorelement at one side of the plate angularly bent to provide lower andupper deflector plates, the lower deflector plate extending upwardlyfrom the lower edge of the bafiie plate and being inclined in thedirection away from said plate and the upper deflector plate extendingupwardly from the upper edge of the lower. deflector plate and beinginclined therefrom toward the bafile plate and terminating at its upperedge below the upper edge of the latter, and holding means carried bythe base.

, WALTER S. BOUTON.

